'Mubarak Must be Smiling When Seeing Morsi's Troubles'

Israel’s former ambassador to Egypt, Zvi Mazel, predicts that the fall of Mohammed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood are close.

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Elad Benari, 03/07/13 04:12

Hosni Mubarak

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Israel’s former ambassador to Egypt, Zvi Mazel, said on Tuesday that former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is likely smiling from his prison hospital bed when he sees the protests against his successor, Mohammed Morsi.

Speaking to Arutz Sheva, Mazel predicted that the fall of Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood are close.

“The army, led by [Defense Minister General Abdel Fattah] al-Sissi, is backing the people,” he said. “The masses understand that Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood tried to take over the country, plunging it into the most difficult situation in its history."

Mazel said that what is happening now in Egypt is reminiscent of revolutions that occurred in other Arab countries.

"It's like Sudan, Iran and Saudi Arabia,” he said, adding, “People do not want radical Islam, they want high-tech, they want to progress. In the present situation in Egypt there are constant power outages, no fuel, no industry, there isn’t even any cooking gas. Investors are fleeing and tourism is down.”

Mazel said that he is convinced that Mubarak is lying in his bed and is pleased to see Morsi’s troubles.

“He must be saying, ‘I told you so, look what you got. You wanted the Muslim Brotherhood? You got them,’” said Mazel.

A local newspaper in Egypt quoted Mubarak as having said on Tuesday that Morsi should step down for the sake of the Egyptian people.

According to the Al-Akhbar Al-Youm newspaper, Mubarak said that the number of protesters in the past few days has been larger that than the number of demonstrators that rose during his rule in 2011 to topple him.

He reportedly said that he in 2011 responded to the demands of people and resigned in order to “save lives.”

Morsi demanded on Tuesday that the country’s army withdraw a 48-hour ultimatum for him to resolve the conflict with his political opponents.

"President Mohammed Morsi asserts his grasp on constitutional legitimacy and rejects any attempt to deviate from it, and calls on the armed forces to withdraw their warning and refuses to be dictated to internally or externally," said a tweet from the Egyptian presidency account.